![]() ![]() Mj FitzGerald of Lancaster, Pennsylvania has made it her mission to preserve the heritage of women fly fishers through her extensive collection of prints, magazines, postcards and cabinet cards. ![]() With the increasing popularity of fly fishing among women, it is important to point out that women have actually always been fishing with men over many centuries. ![]() If you would like to identify a rare salmon fly pattern and the materials used in dressing it, Paul is your man. His collection is centered on a nearly complete archive of every book that Isaac Walton would have read to compose “The Compleat Angler”, including early texts in Latin and Greek.Įarly Kosmic golden rod, flies and catalog (photo: Steve Woit). His book collection includes iconic volumes from all of the great British and American fly fishing authors in pristine condition. Over the years Paul has been a prodigious fly tier, author, collector of insect specimens for scientific suppliers, and scholar of early fly fishing literature. Paul’s salmon fly creations are unrivalled in their beauty and complexity and his persona as a fly tying genius, fly fishing book collector and appreciation of the Victorian salmon fly arts have earned him a wide reputation on both sides of the Atlantic. Schmookler and his partner Ingrid Sils produced the most beautiful books on salmon fly tying materials ever made, tirelessly photographing and cataloguing rare and unusual exotic feathers and materials used in the art of salmon fly tying. Perhaps the most colorful member of the antique tackle community is Paul Schmookler, the master salmon fly tier and originator of the modern creative fly tying movement. Jerry is now a tribal elder in the collecting clan and fellow rod collectors, makers and enthusiasts regularly bring him rods to examine and authenticate. Jerry Girard: Antique fly tackle collector, angling historian and archivist of early American fly fishing tackle (photo: Steve Woit). His collection of American fly fishing ephemera provides a rich resource for those researching the craft and origins of early rods, reels, flies and accessories, many of which can only be traced back via the original paper records. In addition to his prodigious early rod collection that includes examples from all of the classic makers from Pennsylvania, New York, Maine and Vermont, such as Leonard, Thomas, Murphy, Chubb, Montague and Payne, Girard also collects fly fishing ephemera such as catalogs, brochures, tradecards, invoices and billheads. Phillippe’s rods, eventually made from six pieces of tapered bamboo, became the standard for fly fishers in American, far outperforming the British rods at the time. Girard has collected many rare early examples of fly rods from the Pennsylvania rodsmiths such as John Krider, many of whom were also gunsmiths, like Samuel Phillippe, who is credited with producing the first fully bamboo split cane fly rods in the 1850’s. Jerry is fortunate to live in the Philadelphia area, the birthplace of the innovative American fly rod making industry, where many of the first fly tackle retailers also set up shop. John Krider pack rod, pistols and medals won for his guns and pistols from the Franklin Institute of Pennsylvania in 1847 (photo: Steve Woit). ![]()
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